697 



STUDIES IN THE LIFE-HISTORIES OF AUSTRALIAN 

 ODONATA. 



No. 3. Notes on a new species of phyllopetalia; with 



DESCRIPTION OF NYMPH AND IMAGO. 



By R. J. TiLLYARD, M.A., F.E.S. 



(Plate Iv.). 



Under the name of Petalia apollo Selys, I described, in 1906,-^ 

 as new to the Odonate fauna of AustraUa, a remarkable insect, 

 of which two females had been taken by Mr. G. A. Waterhouse, 

 at Leura, Blue Mountains, in November, 1903. The type- 

 specimens of P. apollo came from Chili, which is doubtless the 

 natural habitat of this species. The fact that a species, apparently 

 the same, had been taken in Australia, elicited much surprise, 

 and also considerable doubt, amongst my European correspondents. 

 However, T established beyond doubt that Mr. Waterhouse's 

 captures were authentic; for he assured me that it was quite im- 

 possible that he had made a mistake in the matter, that he had 

 never received any dragonflies from Chili, and that he distinctly 

 remembered capturing them at Leura, the occasion being impressed 

 on him by the unusual beauty of the insects themselves. 



It remained, then, that someone should rediscover the insect, 

 either in its old locality, or from a new district. During the few 

 visits I have had to the Blue Mountains, I kept a sharp look- 

 out for it. But I never succeeded in finding it until last November, 

 when I saw a dragonfly, which was certainly of this species, flying 

 at the top of Evans's Look-out, Blackheath. I was unable to 

 capture it, but was near enough to see that it was a male, and 

 that the colouring of both the wings and body was exceedingly 



* "New Australian Species of the family ^Eschnidce." These Proceedings, 

 1906, Vol. xxxi.,p.7'22. 

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